“The consent agenda is a tool used to streamline meeting procedures by collecting routine, non-controversial items into a group whereby all are passed with a single motion and vote. This method has grown in popularity in recent years and there are many variations on the theme to meet specific needs.”

I believe Wasaga Beach introduced consent agendas during Brian Smiths first term of office back in 2014. So, streamlining meetings in my opinion is great. But if the original intent of packaging “routine” issues is why we have this process, then why are so many non-routine issues being tucked away in these votes.

Without a consent agenda, Council would have to read all items proposed in open meeting and then vote on each item separately. Time consuming? Yep, but when you sign up for the job… just do it. With a consent agenda in public works for instance, they could bundle 10 road projects into one agenda, then when that item comes up, the chair would call a vote on consent agenda item #12345, they would all vote (7-0 these days) and on to the next issue.

Now, it is possible for any member of Council to pull any item from a consent agenda and vote on it separately. That would allow a discussion on the specific topic.

Reach out to your Council members and ask them how many items they have pulled from any consent agenda since being elected.

Take the time to try and research the next Council Agenda and see how difficult it is to actually follow what items are in a specific “Consent Agenda”.

Yes… this can be a great tool for streamlining “routine” issues. However, who determines what is routine and what is not.

Are consent agendas in Wasaga Beach being used to avoid public discussion regarding key issues?

If I could convince those reading this to take a little extra time today, I would ask you all to Google three words. “Abuse Consent Agenda”.

Read a couple of the results with Wasaga Beach Council in your minds.

It’s an interesting exercise.